Xiaomi Mi Watch launching 31 March to emulate Apple Watch

Xiaomi is reportedly launching its first smartwatch on 31 March, named the Mi Watch, alongside a mid-range smartphone.

It will be the second event in March, the first happening earlier this week where Xiaomi announced the Mi TV 2, a 40-inch full HD smart TV.

The Mi Watch will sport a metallic design and circular touch-screen display. Xiaomi will more than likely add Android Wear onto the system, unless it fancies launching its own watch OS.

Considering the MIUI skin is almost a different platform, Xiaomi could look towards its own OS on the watch. Android Wear does not allow the same customisation regular Android offers to manufacturers, meaning Xiaomi would have to conform to Google’s designs.

Google is not incredibly popular in China, with the search engine and Google Play store banned in the region. We suspect Xiaomi will look to customise Android Wear through some odd hack, or make its own interface entirely.

In terms of hardware features the Mi Watch will reportedly offer heart-rate and blood pressure monitoring. Xiaomi might be looking for an angle on the Apple Watch’s heavy health and fitness tracking lineup.

The smartphone coming to the event will be a mid-range device, sporting a 4.9-inch full HD display, quad-core Snapdragon 615 processor, 2GB of RAM, 12MP camera and Android Lollipop under the MIUI skin.